Great Expectations
by leafiephoenix
Summary: She expected something else from the silly wager, yet he surprised her. He was so sure about winning. Therefore...he didn't expect that she too, could come up with a huge surprise of her own. Lancer/Sakura, slight Archer/Rin. Complete.


"Umm..."

This was not what she had expected.

"What do you think you're doing, _muirnín_? Standing there so pale like you've seen a ghost?"

Amber eyes stared intrepidly into hers. Like a whirlpool of blood, sucking her into a perilous world.

His world.

Which wasn't exactly ghastly, but equally terrifying.

"Th-that is..."

Her gaze abruptly shifted to what he was holding in his hands.

He grinned pompously, before slamming the buckets on the table.

Her eyes widened at the thunderous sound.

"C'mon, lassie. Don't look so surprised..."

Well, to be honest, she should have expected this. He did say that he was good at it, after all. It was her fault for not believing him.

"You already promised, Sakura. Don't you remember?"

He took one step closer towards her. Her back pressed even closer against the sink, fingers clutching tight at the porcelain plate she was holding, as if it was her own dear life.

Just then, her sister appeared at the kitchen door, as if right on cue to save her from his menacing presence. "Sakura, have they retur-- owh," Rin trailed off, when she saw her gawking at one of the persons in question.

"Why, hello Rin," he greeted her cheerfully. "Look what I brought home," his hands gently gestured towards the table.

"Very impressive," she replied nonchalantly, ignoring his puppy-eyed look, which didn't really fit with his unruly nature. "Where is Archer? You didn't leave him fumbling on his own, or did you?" her brows puckered.

He began to chortle. "Oh, he's deadly. Much, much better than I thought. He should join me more often," he started, "but the feckin' bloke should stop being bloody competitive all the time," he mused with a precarious glint in his eyes.

"Badmouthing me behind my back now, Lancer?" boomed a voice from behind Rin, causing her to jump. Sakura turned her head, only to see her brother-in-law clenching his jaw.

With a fishing pole gripped firmly in each hand.

Soaking wet.

Looking pissed.

"Oh, thank you for helping me with them poles, Archer," Lancer winked impishly.

Archer grunted. "Don't mention," he rolled his eyes before walking away, still holding the fishing poles distractedly, as if he didn't know what to do with them. Rin narrowed her eyes slightly at Sakura and Lancer, with that extra hint to the former to admonish the latter, before following her husband upstairs.

Sakura sighed, knowing that any attempt at taming a wild hound would result in total failure.

"He caught two," Lancer told Sakura, oblivious at her discomfort of being left alone with her. He could only be talking about Archer. "Not bad for a rookie," he smirked as he sat on the table, crossing his strong, elegant legs casually.

Sakura gulped. "Just two...fish?"

"A fish and a tiny squid, actually," Lancer replied sardonically. "Which amazed me because it wasn't even squid season. That smug brother-in-law of yours got some talent for fishing, _muirnín_." Something in his tone told her he was indeed, somewhat amazed by Archer's feat.

Then she blushed. '_Muirnín_? Half of the time she had no idea what the foreign words meant, but the way he'd said it made her heart flip. Despite herself, she couldn't resist retorting, "And you're not smug, then?"

He shifted in his seat for more comfort, resting his chin on his knuckles as he proceeded to look at her, smiling wickedly. "Aye, lass. Of that I am. But for all the right reasons."

Sakura blinked at his offhand remark. No, darn it, she shouldn't have done that. Now he would think that she was fluttering her eyelashes on purpose, and that would only make the situation worse.

Wouldn't it?

He kicked a chair towards her. "Take the weight of your legs off, would you, _a stóirín_," he told her softly; thoughtfully, much a contradiction to the seemingly aggressive act of kicking the chair just moments earlier.

"Ehh?"

"Sit down," he offered kindly.

"Oh," she mumbled. And so she finally placed the porcelain plate on the rack -- the one she had been holding on since forever, and sat opposite him.

The silence began to kill her. Knowing well that he was openly staring at her, she stared at the buckets on the table instead.

Two full, heavy buckets of fish. 'Darn it,' she thought. 'He caught all of them save two? He _is_ good,' she fiddled at the edges of her chair nervously.

"You promised, Sakura," he reminded her, his voice unusually croaky. "You've teased me for so long, it's so unfair," he continued in a half-whine, like a child dispossessed of his favourite toy.

"But..." she squirmed, unable to meet his burning gaze.

"No buts," he put up a finger. "A promise is a promise. I want to know if you're as good as they say."

Sakura heaved a sigh.

"_Le do thoil, a thaisce,"_ he pleaded. 'Please, love.'

Admitting defeat, Sakura tilted her head up and replied demurely, "Alright, I'll do it."

Lancer grinned devilishly.

* * *

Rin could only gasp when she was seated at the dinner table.

"What on earth...?" Archer blurted out as he found himself staring at the most luxurious fish-fest feast he had ever seen in his entire life.

"Now, now, Archer," Lancer rubbed his hands together mischievously, "Don't get too excited."

"I'm not excited, I'm in shock," Archer glowered at his guest. "Sakura... did he force you into cooking all this?"

Sakura flailed her hands apprehensively. "Oh no, he didn't. In fact, he helped me with cutting the vegetables and filleting the fish."

"That's because it's the only thing he's fucking good at. Cutting up things," Archer muttered.

Rin kicked his feet under the table.

"How delightful of you to help Sakura prepare dinner," she smiled at Lancer, who was smiling at Sakura. Ignoring his ignorance, Rin continued, "Not only did you help her with the cooking, you also did the fishing!"

Archer grimaced. "Can't we just eat now?"

Lancer's face blatantly lit up.

"Ittadakimasu," Rin bellowed, secretly suppressing a laugh.

* * *

He had been waiting long enough for this.

Shirou and Saber had boasted about Sakura's abilities in the kitchen. He had heard Rin seconding it. Archer too, even in his refusal to engage in a proper conversation with him -- (who could blame him, though). Sadly, Lancer was never privileged to sample it.

Tonight though, he realized that it was all talk.

Shirou, Saber, Rin, Archer...all liars.

They had told him that Sakura was an expert in this. That the food she made was impeccable.

_Liars._

How could she be sitting there modestly, when he was utterly suffering at the end of the table like this? She was tormenting him on purpose with that diffidence and naivety. Didn't she know what she had done to him?

He did not place that bet for nothing. He did not wage that he could bring back two huge buckets of fish in two hours, just to receive this torture. The reward was simple – that she would cook for him – cook exclusively what he had provided her with. He had whistled on the way back, thinking how easy a win it had been, that Archer had to shut his ears with earplugs to save himself from annoyance.

He did not wage, though, for her to steal his heart through all this. No, they didn't tell him she could do that through her cooking.

_Fuck_, that had been his tongue doing all the tasting.

This..._this _was his soul.

And it was not what he had expected.

-end-


End file.
